Each drone strike creates at least 40 new militants - ex-State Dept. official

People gather at the site of a drone strike on the road between Yafe and Radfan districts of the southern Yemeni province of Lahj August 11, 2013. (Reuters) / Reuters

A former high-ranking official from the Department of State claims that the mass loss of civilian life caused by American-launched drone strikes in Yemen are creating dozens of new militants with each attack.

Nabeel Khoury, the deputy chief of mission in Yemen for the State
Department from 2004 to 2007, writes in the Cairo Review this
week that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles against alleged
Al-Qaeda operatives is breeding anti-American sentiment overseas.

The editorial, published Wednesday, comes as the
United States’ use of drones is dominating discussions in
Washington and around the world. Two leading human rights
organizations condemned drones in a pair of reports released earlier this week, and on
Wednesday the prime minister of Pakistan urged US President Barack Obama to cease drone
strikes in his country and essentially halt an operation that has
involved hundreds of attacks since 2004.

According to Khoury, similar attacks conducted in Yemen during
the last few years have spawned a hatred that could immensely
hurt America’s efforts.

“Drone strikes take out a few bad guys to be sure, but they
also kill a large number of innocent civilians. Given Yemen’s
tribal structure, the US generates roughly forty to sixty new
enemies for every AQAP operative killed by drones,” Khoury
wrote, referring to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

“In war, unmanned aircraft may be a necessary part of a
comprehensive military strategy. In a country where we are not at
war, however, drones become part of our foreign policy,
dominating it altogether, to the detriment of both our security
and political goals,” he added.

Khoury is currently a senior fellow for Middle East and national
security at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a Windy
City-based nonpartisan, independent think tank described on its
website as “committed to influencing the discourse on global
issues through contributions to opinion and policy formation,
leadership dialogue and public learning.” His "40-60 new
enemies" estimate was not scientifically drawn, but instead
relied on his intimate knowledge of Yemeni society.

Previously, Khoury was director of the Near East South Asia
Office of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and
Research and then taught at DC’s National Defense University.

Coincidentally, that same school was the site of an address earlier this year in which Pres. Obama
insisted the US would be entering a new phase in foreign policy
with regards to its use of drones.

“As was true in previous armed conflicts, this new technology
raises profound questions -- about who is targeted, and why;
about civilian casualties, and the risk of creating new enemies;
about the legality of such strikes under US and international
law; about accountability and morality,” Obama said this past
May. “And yet, as our fight enters a new phase, America’s
legitimate claim of self-defense cannot be the end of the
discussion. To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective,
is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance. For the same
human progress that gives us the technology to strike half a
world away also demands the discipline to constrain that power --
or risk abusing it. “

“The very precision of drone strikes and the necessary secrecy
often involved in such actions can end up shielding our
government from the public scrutiny that a troop deployment
invites. It can also lead a President and his team to view drone
strikes as a cure-all for terrorism,” added the president.
“And for this reason, I’ve insisted on strong oversight of all
lethal action. After I took office, my administration began
briefing all strikes outside of Iraq and Afghanistan to the
appropriate committees of Congress.”

Earlier this week, both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International called on the Obama administration to end its
overseas drone programs, blaming those assaults for dozens of
civilian deaths. Other independent studies have blamed UAVs on
hundreds of innocent casualties.

Then on Wednesday, Pakistani PM Sharif told reporters after a
meeting at the White House that he “brought up the issues of
drones” with the president, “emphasizing the need for an
end to such strikes.”

That same evening, however, the Washington Post published a
report stemming from leaked Central Intelligence Agency documents
suggesting that Pakistan’s government has been largely aware of America’s drone program
there, even assisting at times.